Residential zoning changes postponed
Hearing on ordinances carried to Sept. 4
BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer

UPPER FREEHOLD — The wait for a vote on changing residential zoning will be little longer.

Although the Township Committee's vote had to be postponed until Sept. 4, public hearings on four proposed ordinances concerning zoning were held at the governing body's Aug. 7 meeting. The hearings were also carried to Sept. 4 to give the public another opportunity to provide input before the vote.

The first ordinance would amend the township's regulations regarding noncontiguous clustering and equine community development. The Planning Board recommended these two options as land uses in the township's agricultural/residential (AR) zone.

Township Planner Charles Newcomb further recommended the township expand the equine community option into a conditional use throughout the AR zone.

The second ordinance also deals with noncontiguous clustering, which the township defines as a land-use method of providing and encouraging single-family residential environments to preserve and safeguard desirable and appropriate agricultural lands, open spaces, steep slopes, flood plains, wetlands, wetlands transition areas and scenic vistas.

The township's objective with the noncontiguous cluster option is to allow individual property owners to transfer the development ability of one parcel to another parcel they own in an effort to keep the former parcel as farmland or open space.

Under the provisions of the proposed ordinance, the preserved parcel would have to form a contiguous tract that measures 150 acres or more, and the developed tract could not have more than 150 residential units.

The third ordinance also concerns the equine community option, and if passed would allow all properties in the AR zone to be eligible for such development. Newcomb recommended the ordinance since the Planning Board recommendation would have only allowed equine community development in certain areas of the AR zone.

The fourth ordinance would allow farmland and open space conservation clusters as development options in the AR zone. In order to use these development options, applicants would need to ensure that each lot in their Schematic Test Subdivision Plan measures at least 6 acres in area, with at least 1 acre of each lot exhibiting no critical areas such as freshwater wetlands, 100-year flood plains, or slopes of 15 percent or greater. The applicant would not be able to apply for variances or waivers. Finally, the applicant would have to cluster the residential lots on no more than 30 percent of the overall tract area and would have to deed restrict the remaining as farmland or open space in perpetuity.

Township Attorney Granville Magee said the ordinances would increase lot sizes in the township from the current 3- acre zoning. He said a grandfather clause protecting lots that have already been subdivided was inadvertently omitted. The committee decided to reintroduce the ordinances correctly and postpone its vote.

Newcomb said there was also a math mistake in the ordinance concerning lot averaging on a 6-acre lot.

Newcomb said the changes are in sync with New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) septic density and water quality management plan rules adopted July 7.

Former Mayor Bob Abrams, a 50-year resident, said he couldn't understand why 6-acre farmettes should need a variance from the Planning Board, calling such lots "the lifeblood of the town since day one." He said that forcing developers to go before the board for a waiver for farmettes would be a deterrent in their creation.

Mayor Steve Alexander said the Planning Board has stated that farmette subdivisions would be well received, and lot averaging would also create farmette parcels.

Resident Marc Covitz said he has been waiting a long time for the zoning changes. He said the downzoning that the ordinances promote is backed by science in the forms of a nitrate dilution study conducted by former planner Mark Remsa and changes the DEP has made in wastewater permitting.

Dr. S. Perrine Dey, the chairman of the township's Board of Health, said the nitrate dilution study should not be used as an argument for large-lot zoning since alternative septic systems could reduce nitrate levels. The water supply available will govern build-out, he said.

"The Planning Board doesn't need to do anything," Dey said. "It's all set in stone by the state."